Virginia Earns Gritty Win Over Illinois, Wins Main Event Championship
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Virginia basketball is officially back.
I hesitated to write that on Friday after UVA picked up a huge victory over No. 5 Baylor. It was a great game, but only one game. Now, I have no such reservations. After a "down year" that saw the Cavaliers miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, Virginia appears to be one of the best teams in the country this season and the rankings should reflect that when they are updated after Tony Bennett's Wahoos went to Las Vegas and earned two incredibly impressive wins this weekend.
But it certainly wasn't easy. With a little less than four minutes left in regulation, Virginia trailed Illinois 58-56. Over the next three and a half minutes, the Cavaliers made clutch play after clutch play on both ends of the floor, stringing together a game-changing 13-0 run to take complete control of the game late as No. 16 Virginia (4-0) defeated No. 19 Illinois (4-1) 70-61 on Sunday to clinch the Continental Tire Main Event Championship in Las Vegas.
While both teams got hot in their respective semifinal victories on Friday night, the title game on Sunday was more of a defensive slugfest, with both teams shooting just a touch over 40% from the floor. Kihei Clark powered the Cavaliers early with 10 first-half points, including a pair of three-pointers, but strong first-halves from RJ Melendez (8 points, 2 threes) and Jayden Epps (8 points, 4/6 FG) gave Illinois a slim 31-29 edge at halftime.
Just as they did against Baylor on Friday, the Cavaliers started the second half strong with a 6-0 run. Virginia maintained a slim lead for the next several minutes until a pair of buckets from Armaan Franklin gave Virginia a six-point lead with just over seven minutes to play.
Brad Underwood's Illini wouldn't go away though, as Jayden Epps knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to erase the deficit. Dain Dainja capped the 8-0 run with a dunk and Illinois took a 55-53 lead with less than five minutes to go.
Ben Vander Plas was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three free throws, but Illinois responded with a jumper from Coleman Hawkins to regain the lead for the Illini.
Then came the critical stretch of dominant basketball by the Cavaliers on both ends of the floor. Reece Beekman sparked the run with one of his patented two-way plays, coming up with a steal on the defensive end and then finishing in transition with a tough layup plus a foul. Virginia would get consecutive stops on Illinois' next seven possessions as the Illini endured a scoring drought of more than three minutes at the most critical juncture of the game. Beekman used a great move in the low post to score with his left hand to extend the Virginia lead to 62-58 and Franklin added a driving layup to make it a seven-point game with less than a minute to go.
Virginia salted the game away from the free throw line from there, ending the game on a 14-3 run as the Cavaliers showed remarkable grit and mental toughness to respond to the adversity and make the plays at the most crucial times.
Reece Beekman was undoubtedly the best player on the floor on Sunday night, finishing with a game-high 17 points as well as four rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Perhaps more importantly, he was the primary defender on Illinois' 6'6" star Terrence Shannon Jr. After going off for 29 points on 8/9 three-point shooting against UCLA on Friday, Shannon was held to just nine points on 4/10 shooting from the floor, 1/5 from three, and six turnovers. Beekman was deservedly named the Most Valuable Player of the Continental Tire Main Event after the game.
Beekman was joined by valuable contributions from Kihei Clark (12 points, 3 assists, 2 steals), Jayden Gardner (12 points, 5 rebounds), and Ben Vander Plas (8 points, 10 rebounds).
Virginia went into the weekend with some incredibly challenging circumstances. The tragic shooting at UVA on Sunday night resulted in the cancelation of Virginia's game against Northern Iowa on Monday. After having an unexpected week off, the Cavaliers arrived in Las Vegas this weekend with heavy hearts and distractions abound. In a tournament that featured four ranked teams that all came in undefeated, Virginia emerged victorious with two of the most impressive wins of any team in college basketball this season and a well-earned Main Event tournament title, UVA's eighth November tournament championship in the last nine years.
Most significantly, these two performances by the Wahoos this weekend have given a devastated UVA community something to cheer about.
Now 4-0 on the season, Virginia will look to keep the ball rolling against Maryland Eastern-Shore on Friday, November 25th at 6pm at John Paul Jones Arena.
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